ACO BUSINESSNEWS NOTES FROM COUNCIL The summer's Railtrack dispute played havoc with the Executive and Councils' schedules, causing two cancellations and some hastily arranged skeleton meetings. In consequence, although much routine business was transacted over the telephone, policy matters and new initiatives had necessarily to be deferred, resulting inter alia in a shorter rhan normal column this time. Council has also had to deal with a number of vacancies '!-'hich have arisen on Council owing to resignations during the year and which have impeded the Council's work - although those who have resigned have done their best to carry on as long as possible to reduce the impact on the Association. By the time you read this, Council will have taken steps to co-opt a new Membership Secretary and Education Officer and hopes to have a new Treasurer lined up. All these posts will be subject to election at the AGM when those co-opted now will be put forward as the Council's nominees. The most serious change the Council faces, however, is the resignation of your Chairman, Chris Smith which will be effective from the AGM in April 1995. This is because Chris has accepted a post with English Heritage. The Executive has nominated Mary King, currently Vice-Chair, to take over as Chair and, subject to Council's agreement, this nomination will go forward to the AGM next April. The Executive has also recommended the creation of a new post on Council of Immediate Past Chairman, for which they have nominated Chris, to ensure that his expertise and experience remain available to us. Council has experienced some difficulty in filling these vacancies and hopes that more nominations will come forward for the posts of Vice-Chair which will become vacant if Mary King becomes Chair. 32 Concern was also expressed about lack of news from the Branches: a lively Branch network is the foundation stone of ACO and an essential recruiting ground for vacancies on the Executive. On a more positive note, external funding had been found for the membership questionnaire. This was to be printed and dispatched during the autumn. Arrangements for the 1995 Annual School in Lincolnshire were proceeding well; programmes were beginning to emerge for the next three years in Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire and probably Gloucestershire. The Publicity Sub-committee was preparing an exhibition for the HHA Day in November; this would be available for use by branches as an ACO exhibit at any future events. ACO had written to the Local Government Commission expressing the view that any new administrative arrangements should be robust enough ro support conservation activity at least at present levels and that reorganisation should nor be an opporruni ty to exercise surreptitious curs in service. The Association will be watching the Commission's final recommendations closely as they emerge at the end of the year to determine whether any further comment is called for. Alan Taylor MEMBERSHIP NOTES New members are from the following backgrounds: Corporate: BlythValleyDC Full Member AssociateMembers England DC 9 Private 4 CC 4 Student 6 MDC 2 London C I National Parks I Scotland DC 2 The association has grown to 1,271 members. I would like to thank all those whom I have met, who have demonstrated their enthusiasm for building and environment conservation, especially those who have given their time 1n aiding the organisation and myself. The Membership Secretary has only been able to carry our a coordinating role with the help of many others, my thanks to all who have come to my rescue with good advice and humour (on most occasions). If you believe that the organisation has an important role in influencing those who make decisions wi rh good professional advice, then more effort needs to be made, and a great deal more can be achieved. Every Branch needs voluntary effort by many more people; otherwise the ACO may not continue as we know it, or have the influence which we now have. There are still nearly 100 councils who have nor yet formally become involved with the ACO. There are also a number of Conservation Officers who are nor members of the ACO. To me this is of great concern as I would be alarmed to think that these councils were making decisions without the best specialist advice and that their officers may not be aware of the rra1n1ng opporrun1t1es available. Education is important. James Ross (ex membershipsecretary) The membership secretary has now metamorphosed into Gus Astley! Many of you will know Gus and therefore will know why I am delighted to pass the action to his safe (?) hands. Please send all your membership transactions to: Gus Astley Manor House Wells Road Hallatrow Bristol BS18 SEJ The ACO wishes to welcome the following who have joined in the three months between 1 July and 30 September: MarkAylmer JohnAlford KathrynM Baxter-Hunter JohnS Beesley MarrinBisset StevenCopping KimB Doran SuzannaLong RosemaryLynden-Bell MorrimerA Macsweeney CatherineMalley KateEMcCavana KevinMorris SarahMNicholson SrephenDowns Andrew J A Ronson Joanne E M Driffill DavidScarr MichaelEaton JennyLSjogren G MGarnham JosephThursby Valerie]Harrison DennisVickers ChrisD Horne Susan J Wam Gareth B Jones MarkAWomcrsley DavidRLockwood ManinWoodley We welcome new members from the following bodies: London Borough of Bromley Dartmoor National Park Falkirk District Council Cherwell District Council LETTERS MORE ON WOODBLOCK PAVING Dear Editor I refer to Ian Hume's letter in Context 42 (June 1994 p41). I too can remember repaving with wood block. In the 1930s the Finchley Road from Golders Green to Henley Corner was resurfaced when the tram rails were removed. Set in tar, from the boilers, the road looked very smart, but slippery when wet for a bicycle. The tar oozed a bit in time making it more uneven, and wear took place where the buses and trolley-buses braked. The worst places were when service ditches had broken the surface. It did not seem long before the blocks were being covered up with a layer of asphalt. People used the old blocks to burn on their fires. Water pressure often breaks up road surfaces, but only the wood blocks float, though I did not see this happen. Jim Read Hemel Hempstead GREEN TREATMENT OF TIMBER Dear Editor I was much puzzled by the critical and almost carping tone of Dorothy Bell's review of the Scottish Ecological Design Association's Taymouth Castle Conference on the Green Treatment of Timber ( Context42 p26). For those of us who are committed to reducing unnecessary destruction and eliminating the use of toxic chemicals in the remedial treatment industry, it was an important and successful event. While personally committed to the treatment of dry rot by drying out only, circumstances sometimes demand a more active approach and I came away persuaded that the Danish 'Heat Treatment' was worthy of further study and, frankly, unlikely to be in the least bit damaging. James Simpson Simpson & Brown Architects Edinburgh CONTEXT 44
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